Mechanically operated amusement device



5 Sheets-Sheet 2 RUBUWL [ff ATTORNEYS April 14, 1959 R. L. LEE

MECHANICALLY OPERATED AMUSEMENT DEVICE Filed June l5, 1956 R. L. LEE

April 14, 1959 MECHANICALLY OPERATED AMUSEMENT DEVICE Filed June 15, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 ROEL AT L. L[[

ATTORNEYS United States Patent ME'CHANICALLY OPERATED AMUSEMENT DEVICE Robert Luther Lee, Los Angeles, "Calif.

Application June 15, 1956, Serial No. 591,687

1 Claim. (Cl. 272-531) The present device relates to mechanically operated amusement devices particularly of the type on which a rider is supported and carried upon a simulated horse or other animal and is especially directed to such a device which is driven and functions to give the rider the sense of jumping a hurdle or like obstacles.

The present invention has for its principal object to provide an amusement device which is mechanically operated and upon which a person is given an oscillating ride which corresponds to and imparts the feeling of an animal such as a horse taking the jumps over an obstacle.

A further and important object of the invention is to provide a mechanical horse which will give a back and forth ride at the same time it provides an up and down ride through a relatively long are while maintaining the rider substantially horizontal at all times.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a driven mechanical horse having a stationary supporting frame and which device can sustain repeated use, can be coin operated, and is economical to maintain.

Further objects of the invention will be in part obvious and in part pointed out in the following detailed description of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the present device partly in section.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view taken on line 2--2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line 33 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged cross sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 5 is a horizontal section of the body forming part of the present device and taken on line 55 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 6 is a top view of supporting frame, also forming part of the present device.

Fig. 7 is a side elevation of said frame; and,

Fig. 8 is an end view of said frame as viewed in the direction of the arrow A of Fig. 7.

Referring now more particularly to the accompanying drawings wherein like and corresponding parts are designated by similar reference characters, the supporting frame of the present device as individually viewed in Figs. 6, 7 and 8 comprises a pair of elongated L-shaped rods 1 and 2 bent at their medial portions as at 3 and 4 and connected together at one of their ends by a U- shaped member 5 extending laterally thereof whose legs 6 and 7 form the front supporting legs of the frame. The bases of said rods form rear legs 8 and 9 which are longer than the aforementioned legs 6 and 7 whereupon said legs will support the end portions of said rods 1 and 2 substantially parallel to a supporting surface. Rubber feet 10 encase the ends of each of said legs to prevent scarring or the like to the supporting surface.

A platform 11 formed from sheet metal and having an L-shaped configuration for extending from rod 1 to rod 2 and legs 8 and 9 with said platform being affixed to said rods and legs by connectors 12 which may be screws, bolts or rivets or the like.

By way of example, the power for operating the pres- 2,882,051 Patented Apr. 14, 1959 cut device is shown in the drawings as being provided by an electric motor 12 whose base is attached to said platform by bolts 13 with suitable nuts therefor. Gasoline motors or other sources of power may equally as well be substituted for the electric motor. A drive shaft 16 having an intermediate universal joint connects said motor 12 to a conventional right angle speed reducer 14 which may contain a worm gear or bevel gears for connecting a shaft 18 to shaft 16 with a suitable reduction in speed. Said speed reducer is also attached to platform 11 by bolts 15 having suitable nuts whereby shaft 18 is rotatably supported thereby. A crank arm 19 is fixedly connected at one end to an end of shaft 18 While a pin 20 extends through the other end of arm 19 and a bushing 21 in one end of connecting rod 22. A pair of arms 23 having bored ends which extend on opposite sides of the other end of connecting rod 22 are pivotally connected thereto by a pin 24 extending through said arms 23 and said rod 22 which pin 24 may be riveted at its ends for retaining the elements together.

A supporting lever 25 is pivotally connected to rods 1 and 2 through the means of a pair of bottom clamps 26 each affixed to the lower face of one of said rods, while a pair of upper clamps 29 are each mounted on the upper face of one of said rods opposite to the lower clamp and the opposing upper and lower clamps brought together by bolts 30 extending through said clamps and retained by suitable nuts. Each lower clamp has a depending leg 27 through which rotatably extends a shaft 28 with shaft 28 extending substantially perpendicular to rods 1 and 2 and with supporting lever 25 fixedly connected thereto and extending substantially perpendicular therefrom.

The aforementioned arms 23 have shaft 28 extending through an upper end thereof and are fixedly connected thereto by a set screw 23'.

A further pair of lower clamps 31 are each fixed to the lower face of one of said rods 1 and 2 adjacent legs 6 and 7 and retained by a pair of upper clamps 34 each on an upper face of said rods and retained by bolts 35 extending through the opposed clamps and having suitable nuts. Each of said lower clamps 31 has a depending leg 32 which is bored and has a shaft 33 rotatably extending through said clamps substantially parallel to shaft 28. A supporting lever 36 has one end fixedly connected to shaft 33 and extends substantially perpendicular from the medial portion of said shaft. Said lever 36 is longer than lever 25.

A body 40--41 resembling an animal to be ridden, as for example a horse as shown in the present drawings, consists of two similar but oppositely directed sections 40 and 41 which fit together to provide a hollow elongated body and are pivotally connected to levers 35 and 36. That is, lever 36 has a bored end through which extends a tube 42, while a pair of bushings 43 and 44 extend Within the ends of said tube and have pin 45 extending therethrough with pin 45 also extending through opposed openings in sections 40 and 41 and riveted at its ends for retaining said sections together. Similarly, lever 25 has a bored end with tube 48 extending therethrough, while tubular bushings 49 and 50 are inserted in the ends of said tube and a pin 51 extends through opposed openings in sections 40--41, bushings 49 and 50 and tube 58 with its outer ends riveted preventing lateral displacement of these elements.

In the operation and use of the present device, a rider can mount upon the body 41 by first standing on the platform 11. Where it is desired to charge for such rides, a check control meter 60 of the conventional type is provided and into which a coin can be inserted completing an electrical circuit 61 for a predetermined time, whereupon current will be conducted through wires in the pipes 62 and 63 to the electric motor 12. The motor will thus be caused to rotate turning shaft 16 and through the speed reducing gear box 14, will also rotate shaft 18 at a relatively slower speed. Crank arm 19 will thus be caused to rotate reciprocating connecting rod 22 and crank arm 23 which in turn will cause lever 25 to oscillate through their connection to shaft 28. A pivoting of lever 25 will move the body 41 through an arc backward and forward and also upwardly and downwardly. Lever 36 will likewise pivot through its connection to said body and support the head portion of said body.

The distance between shaft 33 and pin 45 is relatively greater than the distance between shaft 28 and pin 51. Likewise lever 36 is longer than lever 25. Through this arrangement of the spacing of pivoting points of the two levers and the difference in length in said levers, the body 41 is given a motion which tends to convey the feeling of a horse jumping an obstacle such as a hurdle. That is the body 41 when starting from its rearward position from the right of Fig. 1 will be substantially horizontal and move upwardly with the end slightly higher than the front until the body again becomes horizontal at the top of its movement as shown in Fig. 1. Thereafter body 41 moves downwardly as said body approaches the left of Fig. l but with the front end being increasingly higher than the rear end.

The amount of reciprocation of the body 41 is controlled by the length of the crank arms 19 and 23. By varying the length of these arms, the length of the arc of movement of levers 25 and 36 can be varied. By lengthening arm 19, for example, the body 41 can be moved from a position about in contact with platform 11 to a forward position adjacent the support 5.

It is, therefore, to be appreciated that the present device is capable of considerable modification and such changes thereto as come within the scope of the appended claim are deemed to be a part of the present invention.

What I claim is:

A mechanically operated amusement device comprising a pair of similar elongated supporting rods, legs connected to said rods for supporting the same spaced above a supporting surface, means connecting said rods and retaining the same spaced apart, a pair of shafts, a pair of supporting levers each connected to and extending substantially perpendicular from a different one of said shafts, an animal simulating body, means pivotally connecting said levers to said body, said supporting rods being of a longitudinally stepped configuration, means rotatably mounting one of said shafts on corresponding horizontal portions of said stepped rods with said shaft extending laterally therebetween, further means rotatably mounting the other of said shafts on further corresponding horizontal portions of said stepped rods with said second shaft extending laterally therebetween, driving means supported by said supporting rods and connected to one of said supporting levers for pivoting the same and the other of said levers through their connection to said body and said supporting levers having their respective lengths thereof between their connection to said shafts and to said pivotal connections to said body different from one another supporting said body at varying angles to said supporting rods during the pivoting of said levers.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 503,979 Normington Aug. 29, 1893 542,850 Garben July 16, 1895 1,012,275 Pongo Dec. 19, 1911 1,647,616 Goodrich Nov. 1, 1927 2,302,239 McKinney Nov. 17, 1942 

